What Does Your Candidate Say?

What does your candidate have to say about the war on Cancer? Read the transcripts from the first ever LIVESTRONG Presidential Cancer Forum to find out. Make sure that you are supporting a candidate that will be supporting the real war here at home.

Next stop, the Olympics

Yesterday was Isabelle's final show day at her gym class. Mema, Papa, Abby, Grampa, and Gramma were all there. I may be a bit biased, but I see some brilliance in her energy and lust for performance. A natural performer, maybe? It may not be too early to be thinking about those Olympic training centers.


















Maybe we'll just let her play for a few more years before we sign any contracts.....


Daddy's proud of you little girl.

And let the season begin....

The professional cycling season has officially begun with the Tour Down Under wrapping up this week, and the Tour of Qatar kicking off. After a long off season, it's nice to have the real competitive sports back in action again (sorry all you football fans). February 17th is the first big challenge for the US teams, the Tour of California. Defending champion Levi Leipheimer is sure to make a good showing in his first event riding for his new team, Astana.

Many of you will remember my previous post introducing you to Team Astana which is largely comprised of ex-Discovery Channel team riders. For those of you following along at home, this will be the team to watch in this seasons Grand Tours.

Stay tuned for more updates as the team progresses through the season. Here are some pics from the Tour Down Under. Check out Astana's great new kits for the new season.

"The sky is falling, the sky is......

I was reading CNN.com tonight, and noticed this article that was tucked in behind all of the election coverage. Satellite is weeks away from hitting Earth. I read the article, about a government spy satellite which has lost power, and will be coming back to Earth in a most uncontrolled, and ungracious re-entry, and all I kept thinking was, here we go again.

I am sure most of you reading this can remember all of the media coverage, and more impressive, the level of hysteria generated by the 1979 re-entry of Skylab. This was a serious event for any and all types of people.

Those on the money making side of the industry had wagers and bets going on where, and when Skylab would makes its entrance. On the other side of the sanity scale, there were those who took out insurance policies on their homes to protect against damage from falling Skylab debris, and those that protested the entire situation by wearing Skylab hard-hats around town.
Every news cast, on every station, every day, covered the story to provide updates on where Skylab was, and more importantly, where it was going to end up.

Today, we are a different country. Today, we have become so sensory overloaded, we don't even notice it happening. Who can blame us. There's still a war going on in Afghanistan and Iraq, an election that is turning out to be a nice sound bite battle between Obama and Clinton (Bill that is...), and of course Britney still has not gotten her kids back. So, if a top secret spy satellite happens to drop out of the sky during American Idol, I doubt many people will take notice.

I guess maybe it was a simpler time back in 1979. Either that, or after Skylab, and Mir, we have learned that the sky falls on a pretty regular basis, and it doesn't actually mean the world is ending (unless you live in the Indian Ocean or remote Australia). But, I for one am going to make sure I have my hard-hat close by, just in case.

Quest

Wednesday night, Donna and I visited what we hope will be Gavin's school for Kindergarten this Fall. I will hold the entire "Holy Crap my Son is going to Kindergarten!" post until another time. We are very lucky in Hilton in that we have a choice of where to send him. Hilton has a very successful school of choice called Quest, providing an alternative to the traditional public school atmosphere and programs.

Quest is an an International Baccalaureate, Primary Years Programme school. The IB organization stresses inquiry based learning, and builds upon a learning profile for each student stressing specific principles of:

Inquiry, Thinking, Communicating, Risk-Taking, Knowledge, Principles, Caring, Open-Mindedness, Balance, Reflection

The school is set up in a multi-age format to allow the teachers to focus on the students academic and personal growth. Following his Kindergarten year, Gavin would get to spend two years with each teacher as the classes are set up as primary (grades 1st and 2nd), elementary (grades 3rd and 4th), and intermediate (grades 5th and 6th). This format drops the traditional 1st grade, second grade work of a traditional model, and allows the students to mix skills and work based upon their strengths and what they need additional support on. The profile is specifically geared towards each child's individual growth from year to year. An additional draw for Donna and I is that Quest relies heavily on Parent involvement and welcomes daily interaction up to even visiting the classrooms. Having the opportunity to know at any given moment how Gavin is progressing is a definite bonus.

Donna and I recognized while listening to the student run presentation at Quest, that the format and programs that they offer are not for every child. However, knowing Gavin, we both felt that the ability to become involved in music, public speaking, advance through coursework based on his strengths and with the support of elder students and staff, would be a fantastic and well suited program for him.

Unfortunately, as with most good things, they don't come easy. Entry into Quest is lottery based, so we have to wait until March to hear if he will be selected to attend this Fall. We will remain hopeful, but realize that regardless of the outcome, we are very lucky to have such great choices.

18 - 0!!

To paraphrase Jerry Reed's 1977 song.....

West bound and down, 18 n' 0 and rollin', We're gonna do what they say can't be done. We've got a long way to go, and a short time to get there, They're West bound, just watch those Patriots run!

Arizona and Super Bowl 42, here we come.......

Hurricane of January '08

Rochester was hit by a very sudden, and severe storm at 5am yesterday morning (click link to read the full story). And, depending on where in the area you live, it was a VERY bad day......

This is a picture of my co-workers back yard in Webster....

And more pictures from Webster and around the Rochester area.....

Thankfully, the injuries and fatalities were minimal, but the power outages, personal property loss, and clean-up will linger for quite some time.

Dream Job?

Have you ever been asked what your Dream Job is? Do you have an answer? If you are lucky enough to be one of the few who are already working in your dream position, congratulations on making it. But, if you are like the rest of us and spend a decent amount of time during each work week wondering "what if", and "if I was only doing this", then I ask, why aren't we??

Brian Kurth has built a career educating people on how to identify their dream job, and the tools to get there. He has determined that most people don't pursue what will truly make them happy in the workplace for fear of financial instability (my #1 reason), disrupting their families (another of my reasons), losing their identity, or failure.

Among the tools and tips Brian has developed to help ease the transition into your Dream Job, is his company Vocation Vacations, which gives you the chance to "test drive" your Dream Job to see if it is truly what you expected. Great idea. I looked through the 150 or so opportunities that are currently available to test drive, and unfortunately did not see what I would consider my Dream Job. However, I was impressed with how diverse the selection was.

But, I like the idea of the test drive, so I will not be deterred simply because my dream is not available through Brian's company. I am going to explore my own opportunity for a Dream Job test drive in the cycling industry. Starting with my friends at the Bike Zone.

Check back here for updates on how I am doing, and whether the cycling industry is all that I thought it could be.

Spring in January

I just got back from the TNUA ride (see my previous post for details) and it was NOT a normal January ride. We had 69 riders show up tonight, and for two main reasons. There is NO SNOW anywhere to be found, and it is 66 degrees in Rochester. 66 degrees in January. Spring has come early! (I know, it will be gone tomorrow.....)

We rode hard, we rode fast, and we rode in shorts tonight. It is an amazing site to see 69 riders spread out in a line through the downtown streets, alleys, and bike paths of Rochester. We were cheered on along the way by the local residents who were enjoying the warm weather from their porches and street corners. We worked hard tonight, and ended up winded, sweaty, and all smiles following our 2 1/2 hour effort.

What a change from just a couple weeks ago when we were riding through snow so deep we spent as much time off the bikes as we did on. It was nice tonight, and being able to see every one's faces without the added winter riding layers was a nice bonus. Alas, they are calling for a return to 26 degrees and snow for next week so no more riding in shorts, but this short vacation from winter was well enjoyed on the bike.

Happy New Year

I love New Years. I always look at January as a mental clean slate. A time to decide my goals for the year, and how I am going to get there. Do I want to get promoted in my existing company? Move to a new company? Improve my riding skills? Raise more money for the LAF? Anything is possible when you look at the entire year from Jan 1st.

The same is true for my family. This will be a huge year of change for Gavin, Isabelle and Donna as this September, Gavin will start Kindergarten and Isabelle will start pre-school. Donna will have both kids in school for the first time in our lives. Huge changes! Will Gavin ride without training wheels this summer? Will Izzy swim with just a bubble? We have already started talking about what the family trip will be this year? Where do we want to go camping? How many times? And it all seems so close, now that it is Jan 1st.

It's a fresh start. Fresh goals. Fresh motivators. All compliments of New Years.

I woke up yesterday to a perfect winter morning. Fresh snow. Sun slow to part the clouds, and no noise other than the geese. I took the camera and went outside to breathe it in, and recharge myself for the new year. Fresh snow has the same effect as the New Year. It covers everything old, and makes it look white and new. Full of possibility. I am hard pressed to find anything more tranquil.

Anyway, here's wishing all of you a year filled with endless possibilities. My hope for each of you is that your goals are set lofty, and that your year is spent achieving them. We can all then spend December when we come together again telling the stories of how much we have achieved.